[Cruelhand Luke]

Weird, I have two reds and two whites.

Mine are red on the sides and at the bottom of the cup it's one black and one white.

 

[Dawnrazor]

Mine are red on the sides and at the bottom of the cup it's one black and one white.

You would think that would be consistent, like they would only do it the same on all headphones. Interesting.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

You would think that would be consistent, like they would only do it the same on all headphones. Interesting.

I must have some kind of rare special edition.

 

[theangelboy]

I really appreciate your impressions, they were very helpful.
Before I forget, as far as the driver being difficult to remove, that's kind of weird as mine came out very easily. It might be due to different atmospheric conditions affecting the wood in the cups. I'm at sea level (literally a couple of blocks from the beach) and you are in Utah which ranges from around 2,000 feet to 13,000 or something like that.
It's interesting to hear the comparisons because they really mimic very closely the way my 325e and the M565 compare. The 325e are more lively and 'exciting' sounding versus the smooth more relaxed nature of the 565. Listening to the 565 I sometimes get lost in the music and wind up just sitting there listening to music a lot longer than I had intended. The 325e, sometimes it's too intense to carry on for very long...not fatiguing, but more like over stimulating. It seems like I would enjoy the HE4xx, but I am in no big rush to get some since they would be covering the same sonic ground as my Grados ...I love my Grados, I got them for $50 as SR80e and then modded them into 325e...I really didn't like the stock cable on the 325e, and the headband needed a little more padding, so I decided to build my own set...I have a comfier headband, a more user friendly cable, and I saved myself about $170 off the price in the process. So, naturally I have no interest in replacing them any time soon.

The M565 are a really good compliment to the Grados, especially for $80!
I had the same thought about putting some kind of thin backing on the grills, I like the way they looked stock , it shows off the cool grill much better.
Now that you have had the cups open, do you feel like they are a good candidate for dynamat? I was thinking about getting some to damp the back of my Grado drivers, and I was hoping the M565 might benefit from it as well.

That's really interesting that your driver came out easily. My elevation is roughly 3,000 feet and my house humidity is 35% according to my cheap thermometer. Wood is pretty susceptible to expansion and contraction so that's probably what it is.

Those grados look lovely! They do sound like they are the dynamic equivalent to the HE4XX. I have been debating about getting some grados at some point. My headphone collection doesn't seem quite complete without a pair.

I'm probably not going to dynamat my pair anytime soon since I'm pretty happy with how they sound at the moment. But I'm interested to hear how it works @Dawnrazor.

Both of my drivers have red and white wires, btw. Also, I don't know if mine have enough slack to route them around edge and hide them. Maybe the wire on the side but the wire that runs to the top (white, in my case) is just long enough to reach the bottom jack without being pulled tight.

 

[Dawnrazor]

I must have some kind of rare special edition.

Nah thats why they sold it at cost Wrong colored wires mess up the sound. My M1060s have red and white only and that is why they sound so good...

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Nah thats why they sold it at cost Wrong colored wires mess up the sound. My M1060s have red and white only and that is why they sound so good...

Yo, don't be jealous of my M565se

 

[Dawnrazor]

That's really interesting that your driver came out easily. My elevation is roughly 3,000 feet and my house humidity is 35% according to my cheap thermometer. Wood is pretty susceptible to expansion and contraction so that's probably what it is.

Those grados look lovely! They do sound like they are the dynamic equivalent to the HE4XX. I have been debating about getting some grados at some point. My headphone collection doesn't seem quite complete without a pair.

I'm probably not going to dynamat my pair anytime soon since I'm pretty happy with how they sound at the moment. But I'm interested to hear how it works @Dawnrazor.

Both of my drivers have red and white wires, btw. Also, I don't know if mine have enough slack to route them around edge and hide them. Maybe the wire on the side but the wire that runs to the top (white, in my case) is just long enough to reach the bottom jack without being pulled tight.

Will let you know when I do the dynamat.

Glad you are happy. Looking at mine I have one that has the wires run in the MIDDLE of the grill. the white connection is at the top of the cup and furthest from the 2.5mm connector. The other one that has the wire hidden has the white wire connection at the BOTTOM of the cup and is super close to the 2.5mm connector. The red wire is always on the side/ middle, so I think I put on in wrong and moving 180 will help to hide the wires.

 

[Dawnrazor]

Yo, don't be jealous of my M565se

Or soon to be M5XX with the wires the only difference and its available for $75

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Those grados look lovely! They do sound like they are the dynamic equivalent to the HE4XX. I have been debating about getting some grados at some point. My headphone collection doesn't seem quite complete without a pair.

Thanks for the compliment...I got a set of Grados pretty much for the reason you stated. I felt like I should probably have at least one set. It is kind of a cult and those Grado threads are deeply out of control with the variety of mods. They are a really interesting headphone in terms of modding. There are no screws holding them together, everything if friction fitted and glued. They weirdly cheap out on certain parts, I mean, the rod blocks, and gimbals are pretty cheap plastic parts and they are the same all the way up the ladder....I would be pissed if I spent over $500 on a set and they used such cheap plastic parts.
The sound signature is really similar throughout the product line...I feel like at less than $150 I am at my limit on how much I want to spend on one, and I'm not missing out on that much by not going up to the more expensive options.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Will let you know when I do the dynamat.

Glad you are happy. Looking at mine I have one that has the wires run in the MIDDLE of the grill. the white connection is at the top of the cup and furthest from the 2.5mm connector. The other one that has the wire hidden has the white wire connection at the BOTTOM of the cup and is super close to the 2.5mm connector. The red wire is always on the side/ middle, so I think I put on in wrong and moving 180 will help to hide the wires.

Yeah, I mixed up who had the extra set of M565 and who had the 4XX to compare, lol.
I look forward to hearing what you think of the dynamat. I like them as they are right now, but if something simple can be done to make them even better I'm all for it.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

I wonder if anyone happens to have a set of the Dekoni Elite Velours to try on the M565. I was a part of the loaner tour for the Dekoni Blue and I happened to try the Elite Velours on my SHP9500s and I really liked them. I have a feeling they would be a good match for the M565, but...I'm frugal y'all! I just can't justify paying $40 for pads on my headphones that I got the smoking $80 deal on, it goes against my ethos.

 

[dweekie]

I wonder if anyone happens to have a set of the Dekoni Elite Velours to try on the M565. I was a part of the loaner tour for the Dekoni Blue and I happened to try the Elite Velours on my SHP9500s and I really liked them. I have a feeling they would be a good match for the M565, but...I'm frugal y'all! I just can't justify paying $40 for pads on my headphones that I got the smoking $80 deal on, it goes against my ethos.

Did you check out the earlier posts #29 and #30 from Android? He moved on to the HE560, but he did make some Elite Velour measurements.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/monoprice-monolith-m565-immpresions.859817/page-2#post-13981306

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

The velour pads help brighten up the treble and upper mids to more reasonable volumes. The headphone is still dark, but its a lot closer to the M1060/LCD2 sound signature with velours than with leather/pleather. Both the brainwavz pads help with just making things sound more balanced again since your ears are further away from the driver like they SHOULD be. The angled velours are actually quite good for these headphones. They probably should have come with angled pads or pads that were a bit further away from the driver to start.
I like the angled velour pads for sound the best, easily. I wish there were more options. Velour is still itchy and warm to me. I wish there was a microsuede/microfiber option similar to the Audeze pads.

I KNEW IT! I suspected the Dekoni Elites would be the way to go. It's funny, I was going to make a post about how for $200 they should have included an angled pad, or a velour....but I paid so little I felt like I would be a jerk even bringing it up.
I did see this post the other day, but whenever someone posts graphs my eyes tend to glaze over...I don't discount their value, but I haven't spent enough time looking at them to be able to get a whole lot of value out of them.

 

[theangelboy]

Well, I finally got around to doing my headband padding mod that I did for my M1060. Not only is it more comfortable, it's also more attractive, IMO. It matches my velour ATH-M50 pads nicely.

I'm pretty happy with them right now. I like them more that I thought I would, especially the form factor. They are probably the sleekest, most compact pair of planars that I own. I'm very happy I picked them up when I did. I doubt I will mod them further unless adding dynamat has huge benefits. For now I'm just going to jam out and enjoy them.

Big shout out to this little support group for the modding advice and good ideas! One thing I love about this hobby is the good community we have.

 

[AJCxZ0]

Not only is it more comfortable, it's also more attractive, IMO.

Feels comfy just looking at it. Nice job.